Warp-knit, weft-insertion fabrics have achieved greater popularity in recent years with fabric designers in applications typically reserved for woven fabrics. For example, warp-knit, weft-insertion fabrics having non-woven substrates have been utilized recently as drapery fabrics.
While warp-knit, weft-insertion fabrics with a non-woven substrate have been utilized for e.g. drapery applications as a more cost effective alternative to typical woven fabrics, problems still exist which render such warp-knit, weft-insertion fabrics less desirable. For example, medium to dark fabric colors are difficult and costly to achieve since the white substrate web and backing layer is visibly perceivable through the weft fill yarns and thus the overall fabric color appears lighter than the actual color of the warp and weft yarns which are utilized. To compensate for such a disadvantage, a "tighter38 fill density (i.e. greater courses per inch) can be provided, but is a more costly solution. Moreover, weft fill yarns should be inserted into every stitch course so as to avoid an appearance of a defect in the finished fabric since the white substrate web and back coating material will again be visible.
Accordingly, what has been needed in this art is a warp-knit, weft-insertion fabric which more closely resembles a conventional woven fabric, but which alleviates the above-noted disadvantages. By way of the present invention, such a fabric is provided which alleviates the disadvantages typically associated with warp-knit, weft-insertion fabrics, but which include all of the desirable attributes of warp-knit, weft-insertion fabrics from functional and cost standpoints. The fabrics of the present invention are particularly useful as a drapery fabric but may also be used in other industrial and/or consumer applications where lower cost and dimensionally stable fabrics are desired. For example, the fabric of the present invention may find utility as a mattress ticking fabric where aesthetic appearance of the fabric may not be as important as the fabric's cost and dimensional stability.
According to one aspect of the invention, a warp-knit fabric is provided which includes a substrate (preferably a nonwoven fabric), plural warp yarns laid on a face of the substrate, plural weft-yarns laid over the warp-yarns, and plural stitch wales spaced-apart along the warp-wise direction of the fabric. The stitch wales are stitched through the substrate and are preferably formed of a plurality of chain stitches (although other stitching combinations may be utilized) such that the weft yarns are inserted into predetermined ones of the formed chain stitch courses. The stitch wales thereby hold the inserted weft yarns onto a face of the non-woven substrate and the weft-yarns, in turn, hold the warp yarns onto the face of the substrate by virtue of the interpositioning of the warp yarns between the weft-yarns and the substrate face. When the stitch wales are comprised of chain stitches, it is preferable that the warp yarns are positioned between respective adjacent pairs of the stitch wales.
The fabric of the present invention can also include one or more decorative warp yarns laid over the weft-inserted yarns such that portions of the former are captured within respective formed stitches of at least one of the stitch wales. To further enhance the aesthetic appearance and decoration provided by the decorative warp yarn, those portions thereof which are captured within respective formed stitches of at least one of the stitch wales may also be extended in a generally weft-wise direction and are thus captured in respective formed stitches of an adjacent stitch wale.
In accordance with the method and apparatus of the present invention, the substrate and plural weft-yarns are fed to a knitting area. The warp-knitting yarns are formed into stitches by stitching them at the knitting area through the substrate thereby inserting the weft-yarns into predetermined ones of the formed stitch courses. Concurrently, the warp-yarns according to this invention are fed to the knitting area such that they are interposed between the weft-inserted yarns and a face of the substrate (i.e., the technical back of the formed fabric). In such a manner, the formed stitches hold the inserted weft yarns onto the face of the substrate while the weft-yarns, in turn, hold the warp yarns onto the substrate by virtue of the latter's interpositioning between the weft yarns and the substrate face.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more clearly understood after careful consideration is given to the detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments thereof which follow.